Pembroke College Cambridge

This day in history: 19th May

19th MayPembroke, since its founding in 1347, has experienced a good deal of the ups, downs, and unexpected twists of history.   Here’s some of what happened on this day in history.

 

 

Catherine of Aragon is married: 1499

Catherine of Aragon was married by proxy on this day in 1499 to Arthur, Prince of Wales.  He was dead only six months later.  She was betrothed instead to his younger brother, Henry, and upon his coronation married him and became Queen of England.  She was gifted Fotheringhay Castle and went to some expense in restoring it.  When her marriage to Henry was annulled after considerable effort on the part of Henry, who wanted to marry Anne Boleyn, he granted the Castle to subsequent wives.   But before it belonged to Henry, the Castle belonged to Mary de St Pol, who had inherited it from her grandfather.

Mary Queen of Scots is arrested: 1568

Mary Queen of Scots was arrested by her cousin Elizabeth with whom, like so many people in Mary’s life, she had a difficult relationship.  She was kept prisoner and eventually executed in Fotheringhay Castle.

England is declared a Commonwealth: 1649

The English Civil Wars were a traumatic time for the College.  Royalist-leaning  from an early stage there was a point at which the College was without a Head or even a Fellowship to speak of, Benjamin Lany having been ejected along with the majority of the Fellows in 1644.  It was not until two Masters later that the Fellowship regained control of the selection of a Master from Cromwell. Lany was restored in 1660 and rewarded for his Royalist loyalty by elevation to the see of Peterborough.

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